Ah, the wonders of modern technology--and the hyperspeed of the global marketplace. At the beginning of the year, people were writing almost incredulously about an MP3 player the size of a credit card from an Israeli company called Walletex. Then it went on sale at $150 for a 2GB model.

Now, only a few short months later, a competing 2GB card-sized player is being offered for just $42 by Hong Kong-based Brando, the ultimate purveyor in products of the lowest common denominator. Speaking of which, as items like this continue to plummet in price, we'll be happy to wait--just like USB drives, they'll probably be given away for free as logo-bearing swag before we know it.